Glutaminyl cyclase (QC, EC 2.3.2.5) catalyzes the intramolecular cyclization of N-terminal glutamine residues into pyroglutamic acid (pGlu*) liberating ammonia. A QC was first isolated by Messer from the latex of the tropical plant Carica papaya in 1963 (Messer, M. 1963 Nature 4874, 1299). 24 years later, a corresponding enzymatic activity was discovered in animal pituitary (Busby, W. H. J. et al. 1987 J Biol Chem 262, 8532-8536; Fischer, W. H. and Spiess, J. 1987 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 84, 3628-3632). For the mammalian QC, the conversion of Gln into pGlu by QC could be shown for the precursors of TRH and GnRH (Busby, W. H. J. et al. 1987 J Biol Chem 262, 8532-8536; Fischer, W. H. and Spiess, J. 1987 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 84, 3628-3632). In addition, initial localization experiments of QC revealed a co-localization with its putative products of catalysis in bovine pituitary, further improving the suggested function in peptide hormone synthesis (Bockers, T. M. et al. 1995 J Neuroendocrinol 7, 445-453). In contrast, the physiological function of the plant QC is less clear. In the case of the enzyme from C. papaya, a role in the plant defense against pathogenic microorganisms was suggested (El Moussaoui, A. et al. 2001 Cell Mol Life Sci 58, 556-570). Putative QCs from other plants were identified by sequence comparisons recently (Dahl, S. W. et al. 2000 Protein Expr Purif 20, 27-36). The physiological function of these enzymes, however, is still ambiguous.
The QCs known from plants and animals show a strict specificity for L-Glutamine in the N-terminal position of the substrates and their kinetic behavior was found to obey the Michaelis-Menten equation (Pohl, T. et al. 1991 Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88, 10059-10063; Consalvo, A. P. et al. 1988 Anal Biochem 175, 131-138; Gololobov, M. Y. et al. 1996 Biol Chem Hoppe Seyler 377, 395-398). A comparison of the primary structures of the QCs from C. papaya and that of the highly conserved QC from mammals, however, did not reveal any sequence homology (Dahl, S. W. et al. 2000 Protein Expr Purif 20, 27-36). Whereas the plant QCs appear to belong to a new enzyme family (Dahl, S. W. et al. 2000 Protein Expr Purif 20, 27-36), the mammalian QCs were found to have a pronounced sequence homology to bacterial aminopeptidases (Bateman, R. C. et al. 2001 Biochemistry 40, 11246-11250), leading to the conclusion that the QCs from plants and animals have different evolutionary origins.
Recently, it was shown that recombinant human QC as well as QC-activity from brain extracts catalyze both, the N-terminal glutaminyl as well as glutamate cyclization. Most striking is the finding, that cyclase-catalyzed Glu1-conversion is favored around pH 6.0 while Gln1-conversion to pGlu-derivatives occurs with a pH-optimum of around 8.0. Since the formation of pGlu-Aβ-related peptides can be suppressed by inhibition of recombinant human QC and QC-activity from pig pituitary extracts, the enzyme QC is a target in drug development for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is an incurable, degenerative, and terminal disease. In 2006, there were 26.6 million sufferers worldwide. Alzheimer's is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people globally by 2050. Alzheimer's disease is usually diagnosed clinically from the patient history, collateral history from relatives, and clinical observations, based on the presence of characteristic neurological and neuropyschological features and the absence of alternative conditions. Assessment of intellectual functioning including memory testing can further characterise the state of the disease.
More recently, imaging has become a valuable tool in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. For example, when available as a diagnostic tool, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) neuroimaging may be used to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer's in conjunction with evaluations involving mental status examination. In a person already having dementia, SPECT appears to be superior in differentiating Alzheimer's disease from other possible causes, compared with the usual attempts employing mental testing and medical history analysis.
A new technique known as PiB PET has been developed for directly and clearly imaging β-amyloid deposits in vivo using a tracer that binds selectively to the Aβ deposits. The PiB-PET compound uses 11C PET scanning. Recent studies suggest that PiB-PET is 86% accurate in predicting which people with mild cognitive impairment will develop Alzheimer's disease within two years, and 92% accurate in ruling out the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's.
A similar PET scanning radiopharmaceutical compound called (E)-4-(2-(6-(2-(2-(2-([18F]-fluoroethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy)pyridin-3-yl)vinyl)-N-methyl benzenamine (also known as 18F AV-45, florbetapir-fluorine-18 or florbetapir), contains the longer-lasting radionuclide fluorine-18, has recently been created, and tested as a possible diagnostic tool in Alzheimer's patients. Florbetapir, like PiB, binds to β-amyloid, but due to its use of fluorine-18 has a half-life of 110 minutes, in contrast to PiB's radioactive half life of 20 minutes. It has also been found that the longer life allowed the tracer to accumulate significantly more in the brains of the AD patients, particularly in the regions known to be associated with beta-amyloid deposits.
There is therefore a need for further imaging agents which are capable of diagnosing neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.